56

Elementary 

School-Oriented

Middle 

School-Oriented

Students plant and tend their own fruit and vegetable garden.

Objective

Raise students’ awareness of where foods come from, and increase preferences for fruits and vegetables.

The Event

The project starts in the classroom, where students discuss the basics of gardening and the nutritional benefits of fruits and 

vegetables. A teacher or a volunteer with a green thumb can talk with students about the different ways students can tend to 

a garden. Team Nutrition offers two garden-related nutrition education curricula for elementary schools (see appendix, pages 

94-95), which can be used to connect garden, classroom, and cafeteria experiences together with nutrition. 

Student volunteers break into groups and tend to the garden during specified times. Ask student volunteers to monitor the garden’s 

development and report back on its progress. As the food grows, talk about the produce and how it can be prepared.

Planning

Identify a facilitator for the project. The school will need someone to manage the garden. A parent or staff member who 

enjoys gardening, a Master Gardener with the county Cooperative Extension Office, an area farmer, or a community gardening 

organization can provide expertise and guidance during the entire growing process. Youth groups, volunteer organizations, 

and parent volunteers may be able to help establish the garden and maintain it during school breaks and on weekends. Many 

organizations offer grants for school gardens, which may help offset the costs of your garden activities.

Work with school officials to determine where and when to start your garden. The garden can be outside the school, 

ideally within a walking distance, or you can use pots in the classroom. Choose which fruits, vegetables, and herbs are the 

most suitable for growing based on where and when you will plant your garden. For more information on school gardens, see 

the Dig In! Gardening Guide at http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/diginTG_gguide.pdf. 

Gather your tools and start scheduling. Assemble seeds, pots, and other supplies as needed. Consider asking community 

gardening groups for donations. While preparing supplies, identify which classes/grades will participate, and develop a 

schedule for students to plant and maintain the garden during recess or lunch periods. 

Celebrate your harvest. Once the garden’s produce is fully grown, students can celebrate tasting what they have grown in 

the classroom or cafeteria (if district policies permit). If enough food is produced, schools can donate it to a local food pantry.
57

School

•	 Representatives from each class/grade can take turns tending the garden and reporting on its 

progress through regular updates on the public address system, in the school newspaper, and 

on the school’s Web site. 

Classroom

•	

•	

•	

Kindergarten teachers can help students learn how seeds grow into plants using Discover 

MyPlate’s Lesson 4: Planting the Seeds for Healthier Eating. This lesson (see appendix, page 

94) is matched to educational standards for core subjects. 

Other elementary school teachers can connect gardening and nutrition education activities 

to Common Core and other educational standards using Team Nutrition’s The Great Garden 

Detective Adventure (grades 3 and 4) and Dig In! (grades 5 and 6) curricula (see appendix, 

page 95). Both resources provide a crosswalk between activities and standards. 

Middle school teachers can use the Nutrition Voyage: Trek 3, Grade 8: From Farm to You

materials (see appendix, page 95). 

Cafeteria

•	

•	

•	

School nutrition staff can display the food grown from the garden during mealtimes, and can 

highlight school menu items that incorporate locally grown foods. 

They can also provide the students with instructions on how to prepare and eat the fruits, 

vegetables, and herbs in the garden, as well as offer recipe cards to take home that involve 

the garden’s foods. For recipe ideas, consult the Recipes for Healthy Kids Home Cookbook

(see appendix, page 99), The Great Garden Detective Adventure (see appendix, page 95), 

and Dig In! curricula (see appendix, page 95). 

In locations where students wait in line, display the Dig In! posters promoting fruits 

and vegetables.

Community

•	

•	

•	

Area farmers and Master Gardeners with the county Cooperative Extension Office can 

speak about locally grown foods and teach students how to tend to their plants.

A local chef or registered dietitian can demonstrate how to prepare some of the fruits and 

vegetables grown in the garden.

The harvest can be donated to an area food bank or homeless shelter, if possible.
58

Team Up for Success (cont’d)

Media

•	 Direct local news organizations to the school’s Web site, where the students’ updates about 

their growing garden can be posted.

Home

•	

•	

Students can share garden updates and recipes with their families and encourage their 

families to start a garden at home.

If your school is using The Great Garden Detective Adventure or Dig In! curricula (see 

appendix, page 95), send home the Garden Detective News and Dig In! at Home parent 

materials, respectively.

Approximately 140 students at North Attleboro Middle 

School in North Attleboro, MA, started an outdoor 

garden and managed its fundraising, planting, and 

harvesting. A small group of students even worked over 

the summer to maintain the garden while school was out 

of session. They grew vegetables such as green beans, 

peppers, and tomatoes, all of which were donated to a 

local food pantry. North Attleboro’s garden is now 

serving as a model for schools across the Nation. The 

students who have participated in the program mentor 

other schools that are trying to start their own gardens. 

For example, students at a middle school in Philadelphia

held weekly virtual meetings.

Longfellow Elementary School in Iowa City, IA, 

hosted a Farmer Fair led by five local farmers and four 

food/nature instructors. All 320 students in grades K-6 

rotated through four lessons throughout the course of 

an afternoon. Students learned about many aspects 

of growing their own produce, including how popcorn 

grows, how to build a composting system, and how 

different foods grow during different seasons of the year. A local chef prepared samples of butternut squash, carrots, turnips, and 

sweet potatoes for the students to enjoy.

In Eastern Idaho, the Lillian Vallely School, which serves local Native American children, used a grant to convert a 3,400-squarefoot plot of bare soil near the school into a traditional Native American garden. The school also added raised garden beds to 

grow other vegetables, such as tomatoes and radishes, that most students had never tasted before. The students worked in the 

garden in the spring and fall, and during summer camps. At school, they were taught nutrition lessons in the classroom, and the 

school sent packets of nutrition and gardening information home to families. According to one school staff member, “The hands-on 

experience that our students have had in planting and caring for our garden has given them a desire to at least try new vegetables 

and not be afraid of new things.”

[Photo] Lillian Vallely students tend crops in their school garden.